New Faculty Q&A with Matthew S. Lebowitz, PhD

Welcome to the Division of Ethics, Matt Lebowitz! Tell us who you are.  

I’m a psychologist and behavioral scientist who grew up in Westchester, just north of New York City. I’m also an identical twin, which I suspect played a meaningful role in shaping my interest in how people think about genetics, identity, and what makes us who we are. Another formative experience was sustaining a severe traumatic brain injury in a car accident as a teenager, which gave me an unusually direct window into the relationship between brain, behavior, identity, recovery, and the narratives we use to explain them — and ultimately helped steer me toward examining how causal attributions shape people’s beliefs, expectations, and experiences. Today, I study how genetic and other biomedical explanations for health and behavior influence people’s attitudes, expectations, and experiences — and the ethical implications that flow from that.
 

What research questions interest you? 

I’m broadly interested in how people make sense of genetic information, especially when that information touches on mental health, agency, responsibility, and identity. Some of the key questions that drive my work include:

• How do genetic and other biomedical explanations for behavioral traits and stigmatized health outcomes (such as mental disorders and obesity) shape social attitudes, prognostic beliefs, patient-clinician relationships, and treatment expectations?

• When are genetic explanations helpful — and when might they inadvertently reduce empathy or create pessimism about recovery?

• How do genetic attributions intersect with social categories such as race, sexual orientation, or weight status, especially in the context of health disparities?

• What ethical considerations arise as genetic risk information becomes increasingly integrated into patient care and clinical decision-making, both in the mental health field and beyond?

Across these domains, I aim to understand not just the psychological consequences of genetic and other biomedical explanations, but also how to communicate information about the causes of health outcomes in ways that support, rather than hinder, well-being and ethical clinical practice.
 

What led you to this position, what has been your academic/career trajectory? 

I studied psychology as an undergraduate at Harvard, where I became fascinated by questions about causal reasoning and the mind–body relationship. After graduation, I worked for two years at the Brain Injury Research Center at Mount Sinai Medical Center, working on research projects aiming to understand the effects of brain injuries on the lives of patients — an experience that underscored how the ways people think about the relationship between the brain, health, and identity can affect patients’ perceptions of themselves, their symptoms, and their possibilities for the future. Ultimately, my academic interests led me to Yale for my PhD, working with Professor Woo-kyoung Ahn on how biological explanations for mental disorders shape people’s attitudes, emotions, and expectations. During my graduate studies, I also underwent clinical training, culminating in my year-long clinical internship at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital / Weill Cornell Medical Center.

I came to Columbia in 2016 as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Center for Research on the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of Psychiatric, Neurologic, and Behavioral Genetics. Since joining the faculty in 2020, my work has expanded through several funded projects examining the clinical, ethical, and societal implications of genetic and other causal explanations for mental and physical health outcomes — particularly in areas such as addiction, suicide prediction, psychosis, autism, and health disparities. Becoming a faculty affiliate in the Division of Ethics is a natural extension of this interdisciplinary trajectory.
 

What are you most excited about in joining the Division of Ethics? 

I’m excited to join a division whose work sits squarely at the intersection of the issues I care most about, including the ethical and societal implications of health-related scientific and technological advances. The Division’s strengths in areas such as genetic testing, precision medicine, and the ethical use of large-scale health data directly complement my ongoing research related to how people interpret and react to genetic and biomedical explanations. What stands out to me is the Division’s commitment to combining empirical research with humanistic and justice-oriented perspectives. The emphasis on understanding emerging technologies not only scientifically but also ethically and socially is deeply aligned with my own approach. I’m also enthusiastic about being part of a community that brings together scholars from multiple disciplines. I very much look forward to collaborating with colleagues and students in the Division.
 

Outside of work, what is something you are passionate about?

Travel is one of my biggest passions — both experiencing new cities and cultures and exploring nature through activities like hiking and birding. I find that time outdoors gives me space to think creatively and reconnect with the non-academic world. I’m also deeply engaged in politics and LGBTQ+ issues.